Middlemarch' by George Eliot, one of the masterpieces of English fiction, is set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch. It has multiple plots with a large cast of characters, and in addition to its distinct though interlocking narratives it pursues a number of underlying themes, including the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism and self-interest, religion and hypocrisy, political reform, education, class climbing and sinking, love and marriage. Despite the fact that it ha